To think that the babysitter might tidy up??

[ahcomeon]

Just back from a night out. The living room is like a bomb site! Sitter puts the kids to bed and literally sat on her ass all evening without so much as putting the toys away. Not to mention empty popcorn packets and juice cartons etc..
I couldn't sit there amongst all the crap, it would drive me nuts and I wouldn't be able to relax!
But what's pissing me off is that I handed her 60 quid for the night and she couldn't be arsed even tidying up.
Not unreasonable to expect to come back to a somewhat tidy house is it?

If you didn't mention to babysitter that you would like her to supervise children tidying their toys away before they went to bed, and 'please keep the place tidy.' then I don't know why you automatically expect she would? Is it because you couldn't sit amongst a mess? as you keep saying because everyone is different.
Everyone's standards of tidiness are different. If you didn't mention it at all, YABU to expect her to tidy up based on the assumption that she had the same standards as you.
Lack of communication there.

As for other posters shock at the rate of pay, and the assumption she should've been clearing up on that rate of pay, £45 for 6 hours is £7.50 per hour. This is to babysit 3 DC don't forget, so £2.50 per child per hour.
I certainly wouldn't consider it easy money in any way, shape or form.

YANBU.
Some people are just utterly incapable of clearing up after themselves.
Bloody annoying.

I wouldn't have when I was a teenager. No way!

Different stancards are absolutely no excuse.
Wybu to expect her to do your ironing or clear up your bathroom after you'd got ready? Yes.

Picking up after herself in someone else's home is just basic good manners.
Not doing so is slovenly and rude.

I find it interesting that the OP says that the mess was "mostly" created while the babysitter was there. So not entirely...

One of my babysitters used to do the ironing - unasked, she just did it!

I'd expect any bomb site type mess that was caused during the babysitting to be tidied up & dirty cups/plates to be taken to the kitchen.

She shouldn't tidy up your mess but she absolutely should tidy up her own and not litter the place with juice cartons.

Yeah I know I keep going on about sitting in a mess but it's only because it was such a disaster zone of a mess that I was and am completely taken aback. Anyhow, what would bug the shit out of me clearly does not bother our sitter.

Next time I'll be clear about doing a quick tidy up involving the kids before bedtime..

Barring an emergency situation, I would expect the sitter to leave the house as she found it, no more, no less. Regardless of how much she got paid. Any mess created under her supervision should surely be cleaned.

If offer her 6 pounds an hour plus an extra 15 if the house is tidy when you return.

Littlemiss surely it's basic manners to clean up after yourself, she should not need reminding. It is not acceptable to leave trash lying about!

Exactly pig, leave as you find it, why is that so difficult fir some!

She should not be reminded it should be automatic!

WOW OP £60? I'll do it and tidy your living room and prepare dinner for the next day.YANBU.

I babysit and am often paid £50 or £60 for 5/6 hours. Last night I babysat from 7pm-12 and was paid £50. Their daughters went to bed at 8:30, I make sure children help me tidy up before bedtime. They ate toast before bed, I got them to put plates in the kitchen but I didn't and wouldn't wash up.

YABU expecting her to tidy up.

I pay our babysitter about £60 for tea time --> small hours, & she always has the place tidier than when she arrived.

I sometimes check my facebook to see what she's up to with the kids, & it usually involves baking (complete with photo of kitchen after dd2 dropped the flour) or den-building (complete with photo of the moment ds shoved dd1 over in the mud), so I can only admire her efficiency...

On one memorable occasion I came home to find her quite flustered because the cat had had an epic attack of diarrhoea in the downstairs bathroom, & she'd freaked out & shut the door on it because it was so bogging.

She felt terribly guilty that she hadn't cleaned it up, bless her.

I wouldn't expect 'over & above' tidying, but I don't think it's unreasonable to straighten up mess you've made yourself with the kids!

Crikey, I would expect someone to wash up the plates they had used in their role of looking after the children. Just dumping them in the sink is bone idle. No way would I be paying someone £10 an hour for that.

Why never, ident it basic decency to throw your rubbish in the bin, not leave it lying about.

Yes I would expect the babysitter to wash up her plates or any plates children have used, especially for 10 ph!

As a teenager I did loads of baby sitting and I always left the house as I found it unless I found it with toys out then they would be put away.

I did do proper additional cleaning/ironing for one of my mums but tbh she had enough on her plate anyway.

No parents got any nasty surprises on their return that may be why I was always busy working and just after my 17th birthday brought myself a better car than my mother had.

I wouldn't use a sitter again if she created work for me.

So was it the kids playing the game with the toys and cushions, and the kids juice cartons and popcorn bags?
Also I am a little confused at what hours she babysat as you say you have just come in in your Op which was at 10am??
She put your Dc to bed and stayed overnight til 10 thye next morning.Tht's a lot of hours I am sure it works out muchless than £6 per hour.And no i wouldn't expect a bay sitter to clear up all the kids mess.

And no i wouldn't expect a bay sitter to clear up all the kids mess.

Why not? Most people are expected to tidy up after themselves whatever they do. Whether its tidying up a work station and washing your cup up, or sweeping and tidying after doing building or plastering work. The baby sitter is paid to look after the children. Within that she or he is expected tidy up her own mess, and child related mess that happened at the time of looking after them. Its very odd and arrogant to think otherwise. A baby sitter who did that would not be coming back. In fact we had a nanny that didn't want to clear up after herself when she was looking after the kids too. I gave her three days to sort herself out, as she was new, she didn't sort herself out, so I called the agency and told them not to send her back anymore. And we got someone who didn't think it was beneath them to tidy up after themselves.

Well as another perspective- when babysitting, I once put away the contents of the dishwasher as it finished while I was there, beeping a lot. I literally only put away the obvious items, cupboard one was clearly kids stuff, two was glasses etc. Anything I wasn't sure of went on the side for the parents to put away. I gave a quick tidy round the living room and bathroom as I had bathed the little boy.

When the mum got back she acted a bit put out when I said I'd unloaded the dishwasher, she was a bit surprised and not in a good way. Acted a bit off as she paid, when she saw me to the door I could see her looking around the living room kind of suspiciously. I'm not sure what she thinks I've done wrong! And this was one of those jobs where they say 'help yourself' to food but I never do, makes me uncomfortable to just go through cupboards.

They've never asked me back, this used to be a regular thing, at least once a month. So now I'm careful, I will have a quick tidy of very obvious mess but nothing that involves opening cupboards. I can't afford to lose any more families.